A Roadfood Tour of Chicago's South Suburbs

Both whole pizzas and slices are available at Simply Slices. The crust is one of the best thin-style ones I've found; thin and crispy and not the least bit droopy. The toppings are tasty and plentiful. 

Nick's Barbecue in Palos Heights ( they have four other locations. ) My photo of the restaurant itself didn't turn out.

The ribs at Nick's are prepared in an oven rather than being pit-cooked, but that doesn't keep them from being among my favorites. They are amazingly lean, fall-off-the-bone tender and delicious. Nick's private-label BBQ sauce is great, and the sides are very good too.

I'm happy to say that I finally have a firm date for the South Suburban Chicago tour, and I hope it works for everyone. I've selected Saturday, August 22nd for the event, but it can be changed if it causes problems for y'all. It does have to be a Saturday, though, as Cunis is closed on Sunday. I'd appreciate feedback from all you potential attendees regarding this date as soon as possible.

I was born and raised in the Sout' Suburbs, and I would assert that Popolano's is out of the woods, being in Porter County, Ind., as its Web site notes. Never heard of it myself until just now. If you're looking for fried chicken, try White Fence Farm -- far southwest suburbs, but at least in the state. Dell Rhea's would be pushing the upper limits.

Speaking of which: While the Country House offers a fine burger, I don't consider Clarendon Hills a South Suburb -- it's a western suburb.

And I've never tried Simply Slices, but I would think Aurelio's and Palermo's would be more appropriate choices as representative of the south 'burbs. Alas, Vito & Nick's is just inside in the city limits and doesn't qualify, though it was my family's pizza of choice during my formative years.

Nick's is a good choice -- I ate there often while working down the street at the Reporter/Regional News ...

Just my thoughts as a native south suburbanite now exiled to Hoffman Estates ;)

The Popolano's in Indiana is not the one on the tour; we'll be going to the one here in Lansing, just down the street from me. You're right about Clarendon Hills not being a southern suburb, of course, but I'm including it because I feel that roadfooders should know about the Country House and its great burgers. I have never cared for the pizza at Aurelio's, and I've never even heard of the other place that you mentioned. Besides, the purpose of this Roadfood tour is not to visit "familiar" places; it's to give roadfooders a chance to experience five virtually unknown eateries that I feel do not deserve their current state of obscurity. After all, one of the reasons that Roadfood.com exists is to inform people of all the still-undiscovered places with great food that are out there.

My wife and I are probably in for this one...need to zero in on the dates and keep posted.

Sounds like a good day is planned.  The Roadhouses will be there on the 22nd.

Buddy

Hello? Hello? Is anybody out there? Hellooooo....      Come on, folks, I need feedback on the date I selected.  

22nd's good for me and Mr. Maki.

Don't fret, nocarolina- my date's in two week's and I'm just getting stuff worked out now.  Off to that thread....

I'm in.
Sounds like a great line-up to me, Bob.

I'm in so far, let me see who else wants to come.

As far as I know, I'm in, as well.

Hey, nocarolina, can you repost the itinerary for the trip, in order, at least names and cities they're located in, again?  stricken & co. and I were thinking of doing a girls night on Friday (so the Wisconsin ladies wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to get down to the south suburbs on Saturday) and getting a hotel room- I just want to start looking at our options for that. 

Thanks!

Can and will do, Abe. We'll be meeting up in the parking lot of Popolano's here in Lansing at 10:30 AM. It's easy to find; about a mile south of I-80 on Torrence Ave. From there we'll head west to Simply Slices for pizza at 142nd & Cicero in Crestwood. Next comes Nick's Barbecue, my favorite area rib place, at 127th & Harlem in Palos Heights. After that, we'll travel northwest to Clarendon Hills for burgers at the Country House on 55th Street. Assuming that we've all survived the caloric overload up to this point, it's back to Popolano's for dinner; I strongly recommend the fried chicken, but steer clear of the spaghetti n' meatballs ( bad news! ) Finally, it's over to nearby South Holland for ice cream at Cunis Candies on 162nd St. just west of I-94. I hope that everyone enjoys the food at these five places; they all put a big smile on my face ( and that ain't easy to do!! ) BTW, the interchange of I-80 and Torrence here in Lansing is surrounded by several chain motels ( Red Roof Inn, Days Inn, and a couple of others ); staying at one of these would put you within five minutes of Popolano's. 

I doubt I'll be able to make it.  6+ hours traveling time will make it a long day, and I'll probably need the weekend to get ready for a road trip I'm taking the following Wednesday.

Now if it was a tour of Harvard or Marengo it'd be a different story!

Brad

No problem, Brad. I'll just use my extra large-size teleportation device to "relocate" those five places to Marengo. See you there in August!    ;~)   

Anybody else planning to attend? I'm making a list ( and checking it twice, gonna find out who's naughty or... oops, wrong list!! )                   

nocarolina


Anybody else planning to attend? I'm making a list ( and checking it twice, gonna find out who's naughty or... oops, wrong list!! )                   

Hi Bob, I'm pretty darned sure I can go. The only contingency is that a friend of mine is moving to Connecticut in mid/late August, and I might travel with him and the U-Haul. But barring that, I'm good to go. I'll let you know for sure in early August, if that's okay!
 
John
 
 

No problem, John. Hope you can make it.

Looks like Mrs MFL and I won't be able to make it. We have a wedding that weekend.

One of my favorite hamburgers in Wisconsin, which of course is then one of my favorite hamburgers anywhere, is from Kroll's West directly across from Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Many's the day of the annual Bears spanking which had begun with a butter cheeseburger at Kroll's. http://www.krollswest.com/ Lo and behold I found that the Kroll's family sent an angel of mercy to bring this scrumptious repast to poor Chicago http://www.krolls-chicago.com/default.aspx I'm wondering if any flatlanders (a term of endearment previously unknown to me, taught to me by Buddy Roadhouse) had tried one of these? It looks like a pretty nice place. Located at 18th and Michigan, you could almost walk there from Soldier's Field when Aaron Rodgers and company pay a visit. 

MFL, sorry to hear that you and the missus won't be joining us next month, but I'm glad to learn about Kroll's Chicago location ( I'm always on the lookout for a good burger. ) Thanks for the info.

NC, as good as the real charcoal grilled hamburger is, Kroll's West fame is equally brought on by its unique Sheboygan-style light crispy buttered roll. I'm wondering if that is possible to duplicate in Chicago? Now I'll grant Chicago has some bakeries who turn out breads unseen in Milwaukee for decades but if Krolls Chicago doesn't have them shipped in from Wisconsin, the end product will not be the same.

Directly across from Lambeau Field and walking distance from Soldier (note the lack of a possessive "s") Field???  Sounds like Kroll's is trying to play both sides of the fence.

Haven't been, hope to try it out sometime.  Maybe I'll wear my Kansas City Chief's T-shirt and pi$$ off everybody!  Damn hotel computer--it's programmed so I can't even type ....!

Buddy

I'm afraid I'm going to have to back out of this trip. Got a phone call from my daughter. Apparently hell has indeed frozen over and she and her long time SO have decided to get married that weekend. I'll be in Vegas.

Wow, that's a good reason, Chuck!  Congrats!

Hi Bob-- Unfortunately, it looks like I won't be able to attend this one. There's a still a small chance my friend will have movers do the dirty work for him, but at this point, I'm the designated barge-toter and bale-lifter. If things change I'll let you know....

John

Can't do a Saturday. Have fun without me and Big Beautiful Mich.